Drum sanding machine



E C. LOETSCHER DRUM SANDING MACHINE Sept. 6, 1932.

Filed May 21, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet l P w 3 Q m N W n 3 c @N 1W 3 t w on L c w E 3 .Alvll i a U N FA QM u En 3 o W m md m w Sept. 6, 1932. E. c. LOETSCHER DRUM SANDING MACHINE Filed May 21, 1928 SSheets-Sheet 2 Qwvewtoz E. C. Loei'scher,

M 6,1 3 E. c. LOETSCHER 1,876,323

DRUM SANDING MACHINE If V v which check railsashes-canbe smoothed by- Patented Sept. 6, 1932 UNITED srA ss ATE T oF- lcEf' EM-IL c. LOETSCHER,- OFIDUBUQUE, Iowa; ASSIGNOR or, ONE-HALF TOVFARLEY & i

. LoE .rscH ER MFG. 00.,

F DUIBUQUE, IOWA DRUM SANDING MACHINE Application filed my 21, 1928. Serial No. 279,34a

This invention relates to improvements in drum sanding machines for use in said papering orsmoothing check rail. window 'sashes or the like.

For many years, it hasbeencustomary to smooth the'inside of the lipped portion of check'rail Window sashes by means of a disk sander. This produces circular scratches on the face of the wood, which are very objectionable; I

In operating on plain window sashes, that is, sashes having parallel side surfaces throughout, it is an easy matter to'smooth both sides of the sash at one time with a drum sander havingt'op and bottom rolls, but in cases-where the check rails of' the sashes are offset, such sashes cannot be smoothed with the drum sandersheretofore proposed; i Y I Drum sanders have also been{='used-- in working on only oneside of the sash at one time. Inusing such a machine, th'e lips-ide or bottom side of the'sash is first sanded by passing the sashthrough one form of drum sander having a single set of sander-drums to Work on the lower surface of the sash. In such machine, the lip of the check rail travels in a groove, so that thelower side of the sash .30 can rest on the sander drums while it is being smoothed.

arranged at opposite sides of the machine, and connected by cross bars. Such machines work more or less satisfactorily, as'far as smoothing the sash is concerned, but have the disadvantage that it requires another machine to smooth the flat side of thesa'sh.- In

the latter machine, the sashes are arranged 4 in pairs, with the ribbed or uneven side of the sashes placed together, but overlapped so that the flat portions of thetwo sashes will be parallel, to facilitate smoothingthe same on a drum sander having. top and. bottomdrums. f The primary object of the present invens tion is to provide a drum sanderwhich makes it possible to smooth one or more check rail sashes in one operation, as themachine 5o In such machine, th e'sash is fed through by a conveyor including chains smooths both the fiat side and the ribbed sideat the same time, as well as the top edge of i the check rail. As these operations areall carried on simultaneously, the work can be done much cheaper.

With the foregoing object outlined, and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention.

consists in the novel features hereinaft'erdescribed in detail, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. lis a top plan view of the improved machine, designed to simultaneously operate ontwo lines of checkrail sashes.

' 2-is a vertical sectional View of the same, taken on line 2 2of Fig. 1. i Fig. 3 is a side .view of the upper'portion of the machine, and illustrating the means for driving the feed rolls. 7 v Fig.4 isan enlarged view of a portion of a check rail sash. i

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view'of the machine, taken on line 5-5 of Fig.1. I I V Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but enlarged and showing only a portion of the machine with one of the check rails in posi; tion therein. i In the drawings, 1 designates a tablewhich so is preferably formed 'ofmetal, andmaybe supported by any suitable means. This table is transversely slotted as best shown in Fig, 2, so as to permit the lower feed rolls 2 and lower sanding drums3 to act on sashes fed through the machine in the direction of the-arrow 4. I The table is provided with a pair of grooves 5 which may diverge or converge in the feeding direction, and are adapted to receive the 'ribbedxor projecting side 6. of a pair-of sash check rails 7. The feeding rolls 2 increase in length in the'direction of feeding, and these rolls are preferably mounted on shafts8, journaled in the frame'9 of the machine, and "connected by gearing 10,1driven from the shaft'll in such manner'that allof the lower feeding rolls move 'in a clock-wise direction, for

moving the sashes 7a through the machine, as shown in Fig. 1.

Floating frames 12 are arranged at opposite sides of the machine, and may move upwardly and downwardly on posts 13 which project from the table, and a series of upper feeding rolls 14. are mounted on shafts l5, journaled in the floating frames. 'These shafts are also connected by gearing 16, and driven in any sui able manner from a driving shaft in the machine, for movement in counter-olock-wise direction, to also facilitate the movement of the sashes through the machine. i i

Upper drum sanders 17 are mounted on shafts 18, journaled in the floating frames, and driven counter-clockwise by individual motors 19. p The lower sanding drums are also mounted on shafts 20, driven in the same manner, but travelling counter-clock-wise, or in the opposite direction to the feed rolls 2 with which they are associated.

The drums 17 are preferably spirally wrapped with sand paper, as shown in Fig. 5, and the sand paper on these drums will gradually increase in roughness from the third toward the first roll of the series. This 7 is also the case with the lower drums, but the sand paper-in this instance, is in cylindrical form, and the edges of each sheet are tucked into a straight groove in the periphery of the drum, as shown at 21 in Fig. 2.

In addition to the feed rolls 2 and 14, the sashes are fed through the machine, also by feed belts or chains 22, arranged in diverging relation alongside the grooves 5, and having. a rubber or friction outer surface. Each belt orchain is horizontally disposed and mounted on shafts 23 and 24 which are journaled in the table, and the shaft 24; may be driven by suitable bevel gearing 25 from the shaft 11.

. Disk sanders 26 are mounted at the outlet end of the machine, and are preferably driven by separate motors 27.

It will be noted that the upper feed rolls and sand drums are of a length to extend over the grooves 5, while the lower feed rolls and drums terminate adjacent tothe inner walls of the grooves to prevent the lower rollers from engaging the ribbed sides of the check rails.

It may also be seen from Figs. 5 and 6 that the rubber face of each feed belt projects beyond one wall of the groove, so as to frictionally engage the end edge of the check rail.

By observing the direction of the arrows onthe sander drums, shown in Fig. 2, it may be seen that they run in the counterclock-wise direction, as before stated. In most drum sanders, for ordinary purposes,

these drums run contrary to the feed rolls,

that is, the sash is fed against the direction of rotation of the sander drums. This latter arrangement is objectionable, due to the breakage of the sashes on account of the heavy strain on the elements of the sashes, due to the drums both running against the feed.

By running the top drums with the direction of the feed, and the lower drums against the direction of the feed, as shown in my drawings, the breakage of the sashesis entirely eliminated, and furthermore, thls permits the power to be reduced slightly.

The grooves 5, as stated above, receive the ribbed or projecting sides of the check rails, and thus permit the sashes to travel through the machine while lymg perfectly flat.

In using the present machine, assuming that the parts are moving in the directions in dicated by the arrows, a pair of sashes may be simultaneously fed into the machine from the feeding end of the latter, and the operator in placing the sashes in position, will put the projecting sides of the check rails in the grooves 5, and then the feed belts 22 will engage the end edges of the check rails of these two sashes, and move the sashes between the rolls. After the first pair ofsashes have been moved far enough in the machine, another pair may be inserted directly behind the first ones, and in this way, two continuous lines of sashes may be operated upon by the machine. As the sashes move through, the

coarse paper on the first drums. will smooth the sashes to some extent, the finer paper on the middle drums will smooth to a greater degree, and finally thefinest paper on the third drums will complete the operation on the opposite surfaces of the sashes, and as the frames are discharged from the machine, the disk sanders 26 will act on the end edges of the check rails to smooth them. I

When known machines of this character were used with sashes having dividing bars, especially if the latter are long and unsupported, if the sashes were fed through exactly perpendicular to the axes of the rollers, these dividing bars would be broken, due to the force exerted on them by the action of the sanding drums. T his is due to the fact that when these bars are parallel to the axes of the sanding drums, the latter strikes the bars through the entire length of the bars,"simultaneously, both from the top and fromthe bottom side, so that considerable force is exerted which tends to break the bar. This is especially true when both top and bottom drums run against the direction of the feed, but when the drums run in the directions as indicated in Fig. 2, this force is considerably counter-balanced, but even so, there is a tendency to break the bar. However, by feeding the sashes at a slight angle to a line perpendicrews of the chains .22, whereby the sashes will be fed through the machine at a uniform rate of speed, and as both the bottom rail and check rail of each sash is moved at the same speed, distortion of the sash will be avoided.

The drums 3, as before mentioned, aregrooved,'and the paper is wound around the same and fastened in the grooves. This is necessary, owing to'the fact that with this type of drum,the sand paper can be utilized to the very end of the drum, and it is necessary to smooth as closely as possible to the shoulder 30 (Fig. 4) of the check rail.

It will be observed that by feeding the sashes through the machine with the lipped side of the check rails down, and passingv along the channel or channels 5, that the machine may be filled on one or both sides. This is desirable because the check rails make the sash right and left handed. One or both sides of the machine may therefore be kept full of sashes, and a continuous stream of material may run through the machine, and in doing this, the top side of the sash is sanded by the upper drums, the bottom side by the lower drums, and the end edges of the .check rails by the disk sanders 26.

F or many years, it has been attempted to make a sander which would do this work successfully, but thus far, to the knowledge of the writer, no machine has ever been produced prior to the present invention, to do this work satisfactorily. With the-present machine, the work is not only done in a very credible manner, but the production of the machine is very great, and the machine can be operated by two men, one-feeding the ma chine and the other taking the sashes OK as they are finished;

Vith the old system, there was. a separate operation for joining the check rail, requiring two men, another operation for disk sanding or drum sanding the lipped side of the check ra1l,requ1ring two or more men, and a third operation for sanding thefiat sides of the sash, requiring another two men. 1th my machine, only two men are required, and the capacity of the machine is even greater than that of the old mechanism.

1 c'laimand'idesire .to secure Lettiers manti 7 1 r a '1. In a'sanding'machine, upper and lower rotatable feed rolls, upper and lowerrotatable sanding drums,'the upper drums being spaced:

from the lower drums, and the upper feed rolls being "spacedfrointhe lower feed rolls to permit a sash to be fed between the same, anda belt havingone of its runs arranged the jdrums and engageable with one-edge of the sash for assisting in feeding the same bejtwee'ri said upper and lower drums.

2. In a' sanding'machine, upper-and lower sanding drums and upper and lower feed rolls,'th'e.upper and lower drums and "the upper and lower rolls: being spaced apart to permit. a window sashto move between the same, a j channel extending along oneend of the drums and rolls to receive the check rail of the'sash for guiding the latter, and a feed belt arrangedadjacent to the channel and positioned to engage the end'edge of the check :rail to assist in moving the sash between said drums and rolls. 7 r

3. In a sanding machine, a table having a guide channel adapted to receive the prothe latter travels along the table, upper and fro'lls engageable with opposite sides of the 'sashjfor feeding the s'ame through the ma- "chine, and 'feeding means travelling along said channel and arranged to engage one edge of the sash for assisting in feeding the same through the machine. I

4. lna machine of the character described, a table having diverging guideways, an upper series of sanding drums extending across the table, a lower series of sanding'drums cooperating with the table and spaced from the u'pper'drums to permit window sashestotravel between the upper *and lower dru'ms, said guidewaiys arranged at oblique angles relatively to .the axes of the drums, upper and lower feed rollers arranged parallel to the drums, and feeding means movable along said guideways. j

15. Ina machine of the characterdescribed, feedtable having diverging channels therein,'upper' and lower movable sanding drums extending across the table and spaced apart "to act on opposite faces of window sashes as the latter travel alongthe table with the lips of their cheek rails engaging said channels, said channels being arranged at oblique angles relatively to the axes of the drums, upper and lower movable feeding rollers arranged parallel to the drums and spaced apart to engage opposite sides of the sashes forat an oblique angle relatively to the axes of jecting portion of a check rail of a sash, as

lower'sanding drums movably mounted and 7 ing belts mounted on the table alongside the channels, each feeding belt having one of its runs arranged parallel to the channel with which it is associated.

6. In a machine of the character described, a feed table having a channel, upper and lower sanding drums cooperating with the table to smooth opposite sides of a window sash asthe latter travels along the table with its lipped check rail moving along the channel, said channel being arranged at an oblique angle relatively to the axes of the sanding drums, means for moving the sash between said drums, and means cooperating with said drums for sanding the end edge of the check rail of the sash while said check rail is travelling along-said channel.

7. In a sanding machine, a feed table, up per and lower rotatable sanding drums extending transversely across the table and spaced apart to allow a window sash or the like to be fed between the upper and lower drums, and a feed belt having one of its runs arranged at an oblique angle relatively to the axes of the drums and engageable with one edge portion of the sash or the like, for feeding the same obliquely between said upper and lower drums.

8. In a machine of the character described, a feed table, upper and lower sets of rotatable sanding drums extending across the table, the upper set of drums being spaced from the lower set of drums, and a feed belt moving in a plane parallel to the upper surface of the table and having one of its runs arranged at an oblique angle relatively to the axes of the drums and engageable with one edge portion of asash or the like for feeding the same obliquely between said upper and lower drums.

9. A sanding machine including upper and lower rotatable sanding drums arranged in pairs with the drums of each pair positioned one directly above the other, the upper drums being spaced from the lower drums to permit a sash to be passed between the same while the drums are contacting with opposite surfaces of the sash, means for rotating all of said drums in the same direction, and means for guiding a sash at an oblique angle relatively to the axes of the drums while the sash is caused to travel between said drums, said guiding means including a channel arranged adjacent to one end of the drums and adapted to receive the check rail of the sash V as the latter passes between the drums.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EMIL C. LOETSCHER. 

